With art in her heart

Pakenham’s Elina Sombolan has finally unpacked her suitcase.
The Indonesian-born painter produced a handful of assorted pieces of art at her first exhibit last month, at Narre Warren’s Di Lockwood studio. It was a feat she thought would never happen.
After spending years in Denmark, Singapore, Indonesia and Perth she now has the time to paint and calls Melbourne her home.
At the age of five, Elina first started to think about art.
Her school in Bandung – the capital of West Java, the third largest city in Indonesia some 180 kilometres west of Jakarta – could not afford to fund an arts program, so she took her cues from older sister Rina. It was her sister’s sketch of a lady with long flowing hair that sucked Elina into the world of art. She would spend hours lying on the floor drawing feminine figures, just like her sister did.
By the time Elina was in high school her artistic urges had peaked. She wanted to delve into painting and yearned for a better understanding of the arts – but it wasn’t that simple.
“My mind was occupied by all the other subjects like maths and science,” the 38-year-old said. “The school focused more on academics – not arts.”
When she finished high school, Elina met the son of an Indonesian painter and it wasn’t long before they were married.
“ I was 23 years old at the time and I spent a lot of time at home with my mother-in-law,” she said. “She encouraged me to paint, so I got my lessons from her.”
Her husband is an engineer and at that time, the work demands dragged him from pillar to post. Elina followed, and she managed to paint on the go and learn different aspects of art in different countries.
In 2002 when they moved to Denmark, Elina would walk to the local library most days and spend hours scouring the art section, paying particular attention to “How to paint” books – all while her husband was at work. It was the philosophy and thought behind artwork that intrigued Elina.
“There was so much to learn, so many different thoughts behind art, I just wanted to learn everything,” she said. “I already had one child and was pregnant with another, but still managed to paint a bit and learn as well.”
Elina and her family also lived in Perth (three years) and Singapore (three years) and said that her overseas experiences gave her inspiration for her earlier art pieces.
“Just looking at your surroundings, in different places, it gave me something to draw and think about,” she said.
In 2005 she moved to Melbourne and three years ago, she decided she wanted to take art seriously. With her kids – Daniela, 15, Karina, 8 – older, for her it was the perfect time to knuckle down and be the best at what makes her tick.
Elina enrolled in a two-year arts program at Frankston’s Chisholm TAFE and took to it like a duck to water.
“I’ve always had the desire to create,” she said. “That feeling can only be fulfilled by art.”
Art, for Elina – and for most artists – was an outlet for her to express herself with a brush.
At her Narre Warren exhibit, she put on display a fistful of works that best represented her and her thoughts.
One of her pieces featured Dandenong’s packed train station, a place Elina said was different to others and was a multicultural hub for artists. One morning Elina was walking around the station and noticed a woman sitting at the bus stop in the dim light waiting for her lift. Her face was slightly turned, looking away, and she was dressed in white clothing – possibly a uniform.
“I saw this woman and she looked tired, like she just finished work,” she said. “I asked her if I could profile her – she said yes – so I took a her picture and painted that exact image, which was very exciting for me.”
Another piece that stood out was one that had a white polar bear being melted by the globe, which was Elina’s piece to highlight the global warming issues that affect us today.
When Elina lost her dad, Resman, last year at the age of 85, she decided to paint something to remember him by. On display at Di Lockwood’s studio is a stand-alone piece of a father and his daughter holding hands, looking out at the deep blue sea through a ripped hole in the wall of a what appears to be a house.
“We had a very strong relationship,” she said. “He always said I was his little girl and he was very special to me.”
Initially, Resman had flown from Indonesia for a visit, on a clean bill of health, but suffered heart problems and passed away in Melbourne.
“He had some minor heart problems three months before he came down here,” she said. “And he said to my mum, if I were to die in Melbourne, bury me there. And even though he passed away, I still feel he is still around me. ”
From drawing on her living room floor in West Java to putting together her own exhibit here in south east Melbourne, Elina has come a long way as an artist.
“I still have much to learn, the exhibit is all part of the learning process,” she said. “I really want my work to have an effect on people.”
Looking ahead, Elina craves perfection and so has just applied for an arts program at RMIT.
“I’ll find out if I get in before Christmas – fingers crossed I get in,” she said, adding that within four years she wants to also get her Masters. “I just remember Marcel Duchamp said ‘An artist is just like someone who learns swimming, who never stops learning’.”